CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Six voters' identity cards for the forthcoming
Panjab University Senate elections under the graduate
constituency are received on a single address: 755,
Sector 22.

Out of the six cards
issued under the seal of the Registrar, Panjab University
(also Returning Officer for the elections), just one is
in the name of the real occupant of the house, who had,
at the time of filling up the form for enrolment as a
registered graduate, furnished proof of his residence to
the electoral branch of the university. The rest of the
five cards received on the same address have been issued
in the names of Jasvir Lal Bhatia (enrolment number
277222), Balvinder Singh (265111), Abdul Hai (277221),
Rajesh Kumar (276368) and William (269884), who have
never resided on the given address. They have, however,
managed to get themselves enrolled as registered
graduates to benefit a certain contestant, courtesy,
casual approach adopted by the branch officials concerned
at the time of checking relevant documents before getting
the form for enrolment as a registered graduate filled up
by the voter in question.

This is not an isolated
case. Many such cases have come to light in Sectors 22,
15, 8 and 33, where various cards in different names have
been received on single residential addresses, proving
that large-scale fake registration of votes for the
coming elections is going on, challenging the democratic
process and the sanctity of the vote. Going by the
intensity of this malpractice, the
million-dollar-question is: how many out of about 1.25
lakh votes which find a place in the electoral list for
this year's Senate election, are genuine. The answer
could actually be anybody's guess. While about 10 to 15
cases have come to light and are being reported, there
are thousands which will go unreported, resulting in
high-scale bogus voting during the elections to be held
on September 17, in which 17 persons are contesting.

That various such bogus
votes have found a place into this year's voters' list
reveals that the electoral branch of the university has
not been cautious enough at the time of scrutinising
documents required to be furnished at the time of filling
up the form for enrolment. The form in question clearly
mentions that an address under the care of another person
will not be accepted. This further makes it mandatory
that whosoever is offering himself as a registered
graduate, must prove to the officials concerned that he
or she is residing at a particular address.

Coming to the voter
card, which has been issued by the university, the same
is only an intimation card, which may be or may not be
carried at the time of casting of the vote, leaving
enough room for bogus voting, unless in a condition where
the real occupant of a house chooses to stay back on the
booth concerned and help nab the culprits, who can be
booked for impersonation. This will seldom be done and as
always, the future of the PU education policy, which is
bound by the decisions of the Senators, will remain bleak
because the election procedure has been rapt with
anomalies.

The above-mentioned case
of bogus voters' cards being received at house number
755, Sector 22, had also surfaced during the last Senate
elections, held in September 1996. During that election,
the real occupant of the house, Mr Ajay Jagga, had filed
a civil writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High
Court against PU through the Vice-Chancellor and
Registrar-cum-Returning Officer, PU. The petitioner had
sought a direction against the respondents to conduct
election of ordinary Fellows by registered graduates
after removing the anomalies, as pointed out in the writ.
In the writ, filed on September 12, 1996, the petitioner
stated that he had received several voters' cards at his
address in the name of voters, the same as mentioned
above, who had never resided at the given address.

He had sought a stay on
the elections and verification of voters' list by its own
staff, but this direction could not be passed after the
court observed that there was hardly any time left for it
to verify the voters' list for elections, which were to
be held on September 15. Strangely, the same five names
which had featured in the civil writ petition in 1996,
have again found a place in the electoral list this year,
and that too from the same address in Sector 22, which is
incorrect.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 The nationwide strike by telecom employees from
today had a mixed response in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Even as no untoward
incident was reported from anywhere in the region,
telephone subscribers were left helpless in case of
problems with their phones .

Reports reaching here
from various telecom districts said on a joint call of
the National Federation of Telecom Employees, the
Bharatiya Telephone Employees Federation and the
Federation of National Telecom Organisations Class III
and IV employees of the department went on an indefinite
strike from today while officers of the department also
showed solidarity by starting work-to-rule agitation.

The striking employees
took out demonstrations and staged dharnas at various
places, including Hoshiarpur, Sirsa, Rohtak and Ambala in
protest against the governments proposal for
corporatisation of the department.

MANALI:
The indefinite strike by the group C and D Telecom
Department employees paralysed the functioning of the
department here. Employees abstained from work and the
local telephone exchange wore a deserted Look.

PHAGWARA:
Employees of the local telephone exchange on Wednesday
joined the countrywide indefinite telecom strike. The
protesters held a rally which was addressed by the union
leaders, Mr Raj Kumar, Mr Ram Rattan, Mr Yashpal and Mr
K.G. Kalia.

SHIMLA:
Telecom services were partially affected in the state as
over 3,000 Class C and D employees of the Telecom
Department went on an indefinite strike from Wednesday in
protest against the corporatisation of the department.

Trunk services and
counter services at various offices of the department
were the worst hit. There was virtually no staff to
attend to faults as a result of which many telephones
remained out of order.

While agitating
employees claimed that the strike was almost cent per
cent, the authorities maintained that only 67 per cent of
the employees had struck work. Mr S.C. Chandhoc, General
Manager, said the impact was more in Shimla, Kulu and
Mandi service areas where almost 90 per cent employees
had respond to the strike call.

It was followed by
Dharamsala (70 per cent) and Hamirpur (63 per cent). In
Solan service areas, it was only 20 per cent.

The striking employees
held a rally in front of the Central Telegraph office.

Meanwhile, the Telecom
Engineering Officers Association has also joined the
agitation. Mr Naresh Chauhan, secretary of the
association, said members would hold dharnas at Shimla,
Mandi, Hamirpur, Bilaspur and Kulu on September 7 and if
no steps were taken to redress their grievances, they
would also go on an indefinite strike.

YAMUNANAGAR: Telecom
employees here staged a dharna in front of the telephone
exchange on Wednesday.

The state president of
the Telephone Employees Union, Mr Sumer Chand, and the
local secretary, Mr Nathi Ram, said the government was
playing a cruel joke with the employees of the
department.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 The entire Opposition today walked out from the
Punjab Vidhan Sabha in protest against the lathicharge on
farmers, excesses on Dalits and indirect increase in
power tariff and other power related charges.

The issue of the lathi
charge and hike in power tariff was raised by Chowdhary
Jagjit Singh, Leader of the Opposition Congress.
Opposition MLAs raised slogans against the government and
demanded an inquiry into yesterdays lathicharge. Mr
Hardev Arshi (CPI), said it would have been better if the
Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal had personally
received a memorandum from the farmers who had come here
in their thousands to register their protest against the
anti-farmer policies of the state government.

Opposition MLAs also
staged a dharna in the well of the House before staging a
walkout. There were embarrassing moments for the Treasury
Benches when Mrs Daljit Kaur, an Akali MLA from Kharar,
joined the opposition ranks and rushed to the well with
them. She also accompanied them in their walkout but
resumed her seat after MLAs from the Treasury Benches
persuaded her.

There was another moment
of embarassment for the government when certain MLAs,
including Mr Baldev Singh Khiala, Mr Surjit Singh Kohli,
Mr Harmel Tohra, Mr Hira Singh Gabrian and Mr Jagtar
Singh Rajla, who belong to the SAD but are known to be
close to Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, rushed to the well and
staged a dharna to demand time for speaking in the House.
However, the Speaker did not grant them time and instead
adjourned the House for 13 minutes, saying all the 13
MLAs could not be given time to speak on every issue.

Mrs Lakshmi Kanta
Chawla, a BJP legislature and Mr Mahesh Inder Singh
Grewal also condemned the lathicharge on farmers. Raising
the issue of Dalits, Mr Shangara Ram Sahungara, a BSP
legislature, said that the under the Badal government
Dalits were harassed and prosecuted. He, alone, dominated
the well for over 10 minutes from which he harangued the
state government. He resumed his seat only when the Chief
Minister assured him that he was ready to probe any cases
brought to his notice.

Earlier, during question
hour, Mr Hardev Arshi sought details of missing coal from
thermal plants and action taken in this connection from
the Power Minister, Mr Sikander Singh Maluka.

The minister, referring
to a report published in The Tribune with regard to the
missing coal said that he had already ordered an inquiry
and the report in this connection would be available by
September 30. He said that Mr Arshi was mixing up two
separate cases involving coal which went missing en route
to thermal plants in Punjab from the loading point in
Bihar and coal found missing from the premises of the
Ropar thermal plant.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 The tribunals have played an important role in
reducing the pendency of cases that burdened the courts
and efforts are afoot to reduce the number of vacancies
in such forums, says Mr Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for
Law, Justice and Company Affairs. He was addressing
lawyers and members of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal
(ITAT) after inaugurating the new office complex in the
Kendriya Sadan in Sector 9 here this noon.

Applauding the system of
tribunalised justice heralded in 1941, he said it had
gained momentum. As a result, we had tribunals for
dealing with service matters, excise and customs, debt
recovery and so on. More specialised tribunals would have
to be formed for dealing with cases pertaining to telecom
and power.

Expressing his concern
at the pending cases, nearly 2 crore in subordinate
courts and 34 lakh in the High Courts, he said the
government was trying to expedite the procedure and
efforts were being made to fill up the vacancies in the
courts. There are 167 vacancies. He said a way to reduce
pending cases could be lesser number of appeals against
judgements. This would depend on the quality of disposal
by lower courts and members of the Bar, who would have to
do their home work seriously. He added that the Supreme
Court had been able to reduce the pendency to 1,800 from
1 lakh by adopting proper systematic procedure.

He also expressed his
satisfaction over the performance of various tribunals,
especially ITATs, which had given qualitative judgements
and very few of these had been challenged in courts. He
said the tax assessment procedure should be improved and
the system of incentive for tax payers and disincentive
for non-tax payers should be made essential. The number
of assesses in the country was 2.5 crore, whereas 35 per
cent of the population consisted of middle class. But
unfortunately, only a fraction of them pay taxes.

Earlier, speaking on the
occasion, Mr V Dongzathang, President of the ITAT, said
in order to reduce 2.5 lakh pending cases, 15 new benches
had been sanctioned and the process of appointment was
underway. Shortage of accommodation in big cities was one
of the main reasons in increasing the number of ITATs.

Earlier, Mr RN Mehta,
Chairman, ITAT, welcomed the chief guest. Others who
spoke on the occasion were Mr Pawan Bansal, MP, and Mr SS
Rikhy, President of the ITAT Bar Association. Those
present included Ms Surinder Pal Kaur and Mr JS
Ahluwalia, Chief Income Tax Commissioners, several judges
of the High Court and officers from the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting.

He later went to the
Punjab and Haryana High Court and inaugurated the
computer section in the office of the Advocate General
(AG). Addressing the law officers, he said it was high
time to introduce computerisation in every organisation
to make its functioning more effective and result
oriented.

Mr Prakash Singh Badal,
Chief Minister of Punjab, said the state would soon
compete with any developed nation in the field of
computerisation and IT. Mr H S Mattewal, AG, said efforts
were afoot to dispose of all pending cases and
computerisation would speed up the process. Present on
the occasion were Chief Justice AB Saharya, Mr Surya
Kant, Haryana AG and and Mr GK Chatrath, President of the
Bar Association.

SAS NAGAR, Sept 6 
Continuing with its drive against encroachments, the
enforcement wing of the local Estate Office of the Punjab
Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) today
razed at least 90 structures in Sector 69 and Matour
village here today. Around 12 acres of prime land,
reserved for residential and commercial use, was cleared
of encroachments in the drive.

No untoward incident
happened though residents of Lambian village blocked the
main road leading to Kumbra traffic lights for some time
late in the evening. The police had to be called from the
central police station to remove the blockade. When the
drive started at around 10 a.m. to remove unauthorised
shops in Sector 69, a number of residents of Lambian
village protested against the drive and raised slogan
against the government suspecting that the next target of
the demolition would be their houses.

Meanwhile when the drive
to demolish the shops in Sector 69 was in progress the
affected shopkeepers protested lamenting that they were
not given enough time to remove their belongings. They
could be seen making frantic efforts to remove their
belongings to safer place. Most of the demolished
structures were being used to run timber, iron and marble
business. The shopkeepers lamented that the alternative
sites offered to them earlier were too expensive. A JCB
used to raze the structures accidentally damaged one of
the traffic lights at the Kumbra crossing. A Electricity
pole was also damaged by the JCB.

No resistance was
offered to the demolition squad at Kumbra village. At
least 35 sheds being used to house milch cattle and 12
jhuggis of migrant labour were demolished. Some other
jhuggis in Sector 69 were also removed. The residents of
Matour village said the action of the PUDA was propelled
by its sharp criticism in the Vidhan Sabha yesterday. The
drive is expected to continue in the coming days.

Sources in PUDA said the
authority had written to the state electricity board to
disconnect power connections of the unauthorised
structures in Sector 69. Todays drive was led by
the Estate Officer, Mr GS Ghuman and SDO, Mr Pritam Singh
and four junior engineers of the estate office.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 In a reply submitted before the Punjab and Haryana
High Court, Panjab University today stated that
Vice-Chancellors order rejecting the nomination
paper for Senate elections of the Director of Centre for
Adult Continuing Education and Extension, Dr. Ajaib
Singh, was valid.

The respondents, in
their 23-page reply before Mr. Justice Amarbir Singh Gill
and Mr. Justice V.S. Aggarwal, stated that Dr. Ajaib
Singh was neither a professor, a lecturer, a reader nor a
teacher approved by the Senate. The case will now come up
hearing on September 11.

Seeking the quashing of
the order, Dr Ajaib Singh had earlier asked for
directions to the university to permit him to contest the
elections after accepting his nomination papers.

Claiming to have been
rendered disqualified to contest the elections as a
result of the order, counsel for the petitioner had
contended on his behalf that the same was passed on
August 17 even though the Syndicate had already declared
him eligible for elections scheduled for September 17.

The order, he had added,
was liable to be set aside as the VC had decided the
question regarding the petitioners entitlement to
contest the elections even though it was beyond the power
conferred upon him under the regulations.

Going into the
background, he had added that the VC had set aside the
returning officers decision and had rejected the
petitioners nomination papers on the ground of his
candidature being hit by disqualification imposed
by Section 16 of Panjab University Act.

Respondent Dr. B.N.
Singh and others, counsel had added, had earlier raised
objections against the filing of the papers by the
petitioner on the grounds that the petitioner was whole
time paid servant of the university and not on the
teaching side and as such was disqualified for contesting
the elections under Section 16 of the PU Act.

PANCHKULA, Sept 6 
The car of the Zila Parishad Chairperson, Ms Shimla Devi,
was challaned at the mini-secretariat for use of a red
light, here today. The car (HR-12-E-0024), belonging to
the chairperson, was standing in the official parking
area and was being used by her husband, Mr Ravinder
Batod.

Interestingly, the
election has been challenged in the High Court by Ms
Upinder Kaur, member of the Zila Parishad. She says,
In the absence of a decision in the case, Ms Shimla
Devi cannot use a red light atop her car, much less her
husband, who is not even a member. Moreover, it is atop
her private vehicle.

The case was registered
on the instance of Mr Virender Singh, member of the Zila
Parishad, who was visiting the secretariat along with Ms
Upinder Kaurs husband. We saw this car in the
parking meant for officials and asked the security
personnel why he was not letting us park there. His
answer was that this car carries a red light. We rushed
to the Superintendent of Police and informed her of the
violation of rules, he says.

It was only after this
that a police personnel came downstairs and checked it.
Finding the violation in the absence of any permission
for the same, the registration card of the car was taken
away.

He later pointed out
that almost a month back, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr SK
Monga, was also informed of the violation, but he refused
to take any action in this regard. Mr Monga, however,
refuted the claim that any complaint of illegal use of
red light had been brought to his notice. I have
not received any complaint in writing and I do not recall
any verbal complaint, if at all it was made to
me, he says. Mr Ravinder Batod and Ms Shimla
Devi were not available for comment.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 With more and more eyes getting glued to a Star TV
hit show, Kaun Banega Crorepati, the wish to be on the
show and walk off with mega cheques signed by Big B
himself is increasing with each passing day among
Chandigarhians.

However, the juggernaut
of the KBC which has not only triggered off a war to get
a toe-hold back in prime time but also caught the
attention of several publication houses. A number of
publishers in the region have come out with various books
on objective type general knowledge questions.

A visit to various book
shops in Sector 17 and Sector 22 on Wednesday revealed
that various help books namely Kaun Banega Crorepati and
Quiz Time had swamped the shops in a big way. Most of the
shopkeepers had displayed the books prominently.

Every day we are
selling nearly 30 to 40 books and the sale is increasing
with each passing day, said Mr Rajiv Chaudhary,
owner of English Book Shop in Sector 17. No doubt there
was an overall increase in the sale of GK books but the
demand for books sporting various logos of the serial on
the cover like 50:50, phone-a-friend and an audience poll
was more, said Rajiv.

As far as the buyers are
concerned they are from all-age groups. Of course most of
them are teenagers. The price of books between Rs 30 and
Rs 100.

It is the KBC mania
which has attracted the attention of publishers to enter
into this money-spinning business, said
another shop owner of Sector 17 on condition of
anonymity. It was the one way of fleecing aspirants,
especially children, who wanted to be a celebrity
overnightly by winning the biggest amount on the quiz, he
added.

Interestingly, most of
the books were launched after the KBC reached the most
watched TV show in India. The only USP of these books is
the pattern of questions with four answers as Amitabh
Bachchan asked the contestants.

I am practicing as
if I am sitting face-to-face with Big B, just 15
questions away from being multi-millionaire, said
Divya, a Class XII student. I am trying for the
past three weeks to get through to KBC, but failed. It is
all luck. Of course nobody knows when the luck favours.
Once you are selected in the phone-in round then there
are only 15 to 20 days to prepare. So I started preparing
in advance, she added.

I never
participated in any quiz nor am I interested in jackpot.
I simply want to meet my idol, Amitabh, said Vipul,
a senior marketing manager with a multinational concern.

I was praying for
a young woman all time, said Ms Shewta Ahuja, a
housewife, referring to a contestant who withdrew after
reaching the Rs 12.50 lakh mark.

SAS NAGAR, Sept 6 
The Bougainvillea Garden in Phase IV here is gradually
deteriorating with visitors expressing unhappiness over
its neglect by the authorities concerned who have failed
to take a decision on its maintenance.

The garden, which is
frequented by a large number of residents every day, now
hardly gives the look of a well-maintained area.

Till now PUDA had been
maintaining the garden, but around mid-August a meeting
was held where it was decided to hand over the
maintenance of various gardens to the municipal council.
However, the municipal council is yet to take over charge
of maintenance as PUDA wanted to hand over the part minus
the nursery and the office building attached to the
garden.

It is learnt that the
municipal council at present is reluctant to take the
charge of the gardens because of the ongoing inquiry into
the alleged irregularities by the horticulture wing of
PUDA. The authorities want to take over the gardens only
after the probe is over.

Mr D.K. Soni, a retired
SDO of the PWD, said on Tuesday that he was a regular
visitor to the garden. Of late, the garden had not been
maintained. There was wild growth all over. Water
collected in one part of the garden as the outlet was
choked. The problem had existed for the past two or three
years. Many representations had been made by the Phase IV
Residents Welfare Association to the officials concerned
but to no avail.

Mr Sarwan Kumar,
vice-president of the welfare association, expressed
concern that there could be snakes in the wild growth.
The fountain in the garden was not functional. Though the
drinking water facility had been provided, the park
lacked a public toilet.

Though the condition of
the Rose Garden in Phase III B1 is better as compared to
the Bougainvillea Garden, one sees wild growth in the
rose beds. In this garden, too, water collects in one
portion of the premises. However, cutting and deweeding
work was in progress on Tuesday to spruce up the area.

The condition of the
Silvi Garden in Phase X, which is looked after by the
council, is satisfactory, say residents. However, one
part relating to childrens games is not functional.

Mrs Paramjit Kaur, a
resident of Phase X, says the toy train is not
operational and the pool for boating seems to have merely
become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Boating does not
take place. Residents had twice got the pool water
drained out but once again rain water had collected, she
adds.

Municipal council
officials say a contract had been given for the running
of the toy train, boating and other games for children.
The contract ended after a year and advertisement had
been given twice for a fresh contract. So far, the
interested parties wanted a contract ranging between
three years and five years as one-year contract was not
financially viable. A proposal to this effect had been
sent to the Director, Local Government, for approval,
they add.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Dug-up trenches in certain parts of the city have
become virtual death traps endangering the
lives of the residents and the animals.A random survey of
certain sectors revealed that the trenches, meant for
laying underground cables, had been lying dug-up for the
past several days putting general public to
inconvenience. In certain cases, a number of stray cattle
had fallen in the ditches.

A case in point is the
trench in Sector 37-C along the house of Mr V.B. Arora, a
retired Haryana Government officer. Laying dug-up for the
past about two months, it has become a death
trap for stray animals. In fact, during the past
four days, two cows have fallen into the ditch the last
being early this morning. Fortunately, the cow was saved
with the help of the Fire Brigade personnel.

Since the area along the
trench is covered with grass it has become all the more
risky. Mr Arora while demanding the filling of the
trench, said he had to keep a regular watch so that stray
animals did not fall into it.

Meanwhile, a number of
professionals working from Quiet Office in Sector 35 are
also at the receiving end on account of the digging of
the trenches in the area. In the process of digging and
laying cables the men-at-work have severed off the
running underground telephone lines resulting in the
disconnections of a number of telephone lines for over 15
days, alleged Mr RP Malhotra, president of Samadhaan, a
pressure group for social justice.

The matter has to be
assessed in the perspective of the parking problem near
the Quiet Office, whose occupants have been struggling
for a proper parking place for a long time. The area, a
thickly-populated spot, located on the busy road has a
community centre  Khukhrain Bhavan  facing
the complex. The parking problem gets compounded whenever
there was a function at the bhavan, he added.

KHARAR, Sept 6 
About seven acres of shamlat land in Chappar Chirri Khurd
village, worth about more than a crore of rupees, is
allegedly being encroached upon, but the government has
taken no step in spite of complaints for the past three
years.

Mr Zora Singh Bhuller, a
former sarpanch of the village, told mediamen here
yesterday that this village came into existence in 1950,
when plots were allotted by the Punjab Government to the
winners of the Gallantry Award in World War I and II. He
said at that time, some plots were not allotted. Plots
were again allotted in 1964 and 1974, but this land,
about seven acres, was not allotted.

Mr Bhuller said
encroachment on some portions of this land started in
1997. He had complained to the SDM, Mohali, who in turn
directed the tehsildar to remove the encroachments, but
nothing had happened so far. He added that he appealed to
the SDM to allot this land or use it for common purposes.
This issue was raised by him in a sangat darshan in 1997,
but nothing happened.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Realising the urgency to look into issues
concerning rural credit, NABARD has formed an expert
committee. The committee will be headed by Prof V.S.Vyas,
ex-Director of IIM, Ahmedabad, and Professor Emeritus,
Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur.

Mr A. Ramanathan,
General Manager, NABARD, said in a press note that the
committee would concentrate on identification of
institutional issues and finding solutions for the same
in areas like structure of institutions, instruments used
by them for credit dispensation, skills available in
institutions, legal framework for recovery of their
loans,administrative bottlenecks etc. Among the reference
of the committee are the structure of the rural credit
system and the roles of its major components, development
policies and support system for effective rural credit
strategy to meet gaps in the supply of rural credit in
relation to development needs of regions, sectors, client
groups etc.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 One hundred students from 15 schools participated
in Bal Shree Award-2000, a state-level competition
organised by the Indian Council for Child Welfare, at Bal
Bhawan, Sector 23, here today.

Four events  arts,
science, performing arts and creative writing  were
conducted today. The first and second winners of these
competitions will compete in zonal level competition on
September 9 and 10. Over 200 students from Uttar Pradesh,
Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Chandigarh and other
states are expected to participate. Students selected
from the zone level competition will compete for the
National Bal Shree Award-2000,

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 The local body of the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), celebrated Radhashtami
with great enthusiasm and fervour at the Hare Krishna
Dham, Sector 36-B. Thousands of ISKCON devotees thronged
the temple on the occasion, according to its local body
president, Bhakti Vinod Dasa Prabhu.

The programme began at
4.30 a.m. with charan dharsan of Radharani followed by
tulsi aarti at 5 a.m. An annual souvenir along with a
monthly newsletter by the ISKCON Youth Forum were also
released by H.G. Kanti Dasa Prabhu on the occasion.

As a part of Radhasthami
celebrations, a large nagar kirtan was also taken out by
ISKCON devotees, dancing and chanting the Hare Krishna
Mahamantra.

The main attraction of
the programme was the nauka vihar. In a decorated nauka
(boat) idols of Lord Krishna and Radharani were installed
and floated on water for a round in the evening by the
ISKCON devotees.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Renowned painter Harkrishan Lall, who is credited
with holding various solo exhibitions of his works in
India and abroad, died in a Calicut hospital today after
a prolonged illness. He was 80 and had been suffering
from paralysis for six years.

Lall, a native of
Ludhiana, graduated from Government College, Ludhiana and
later acquired graduation in fine arts from the J.J.
School of Art, Mumbai. He was a friend and colleague of
Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianavi and the two were honoured
together by Government College, Ludhiana.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Brig Arun Kumar Kher has taken over as Director
Resettlement, Western Zone at Chandigarh. Prior to his
present assignment, he was Commandant, No.1 EME Centre,
Secunderabad.He takes over from Brig S.K. Gupta, who has
been posted out to the North-East.An alumnus of the
National Defence Academy, Brigadier Kher was commissioned
in the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in
1966 and subsequently completed his ME in automobile
engineering from Bombay University, MBA and the Long
Defence Management Course from the College of Defence
Management, Secunderabad.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Children of Go Banana Kids Club presented a play
to spread the idea of blood donation among the parents
and children, at Rotary Vocational Training Centre here
today. Children between 4 and 12 years of age
participated in this programme.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 Mr Shanta Kumar, Minister for Consumer Affairs,
Food and Public Distribution, will meet the Press at the
Chandigarh Press Club, Sector 27, today at 10 a.m. All
regular and candidate members are invited.

THE office of the Assistant
Executive Engineer of the Operating Subdivision 2,
Electricity Department of the UT Chandigarh in Sector 10,
has included thousands of rupees as sundry
charges in the electricity bills of a large number
of consumers. These charges range from Rs 2,000 to Rs
11,000. In some cases it may even be more. This is the
latest example of the arbitrary functioning of the
government departments and their high-handed way of
dealing with the public.

On enquiry, it was found
that these amounts represented charges for January, 1996,
to January, 1997, when, the department claims, these
consumers meters were out of order. What is
difficult to understand is that in this period, the
department had issued bills to these consumers on the
basis of average consumption and the
consumers had paid these bills. Now, after more than four
years, the department is claiming that these consumers
had been undercharged and is suddenly demanding lump-sum
payment to clear the arrears.

The Electricity
Department owns the meters and charges rent from the
consumers for these. It is the departments job to
keep them in order. It has no right to penalise the
consumers if it is so inefficient that it cannot repair
or replace a meter for one full year.

It is only the
law-abiding consumers who are harassed and exploited in
this manner. The department has failed to stop the theft
of electricity through kundis and continues
to lose huge amounts because of this. The problem is that
there is no solidarity among the consumers to fight such
arbitrary actions of the Electricity Department. They
should protest en masse and refuse to be made scapegoats
for the incompetence of the department.

This is a clear case of
arbitrariness on the part of the department which is
asking consumers to pay again the bills they had paid
years ago. The various consumer forums should take note
of this and come to the rescue of the hapless consumers.
Such harassment only strengthens the case for early
privatisation of the power sector, especially the
distribution wing.

Sarabjit Singh
Chandigarh

Traffic-lightsAbout two years ago, traffic-lights were
installed on a few roads in Rajpura. Going by the speed
at which most of the drivers jump the red signal, it
appears that they treat these traffic-lights merely as
decoration pieces. Bus and truck drivers in particular
drive most unpredictably, often like a bull who runs
faster on seeing the red colour. They endanger not only
their own, but also the lives of others by driving rashly
and disregarding the traffic rules. Even a five-year-old
child is taught about traffic signals in school. It is
high time the process of issuing driving licences was
made more stringent.

Padmini Jain
Rajpura

Chandigarh
PoliceThe Chandigarh Police must be complimented for
arresting the two suspects in the double murder of
employees of a liquor vend and the biggest ever dacoity
in the city. This, however, was not an isolated incident.
Murders, kidnappings and thefts occur almost every other
day. The police has limited resources at its disposal; it
can perform its duty well only if it gets the cooperation
of the public.

It has been observed
that those from the lowest strata of society living in
jhuggi colonies, are easily lured by the temptation to
make a quick buck by committing thefts, murders or sundry
other crimes. Many a times they win the confidence of
their employers before committing the crime.

It is difficult to
eliminate this menace altogether. However, an attempt
should be made to minimise such crimes. The migrant
labourers should be required to get themselves registered
on their arrival in the city. Their employers should
provide details of their antecedents to the police who
can get these verified. This should help in controlling
crime in the city.

Ujagar Singh
Chandigarh

For the touristThis is with reference to the report Jacob
unhappy with ISBT (Chandigarh Tribune, Aug 12). The
observation made by the Administrator that there is
no room available at Rs 300 per day in the city except in
the unauthorised guest houses in Sectors 21 and 22
is not correct. Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Sector 19
provides to tourists a neat and clean room with a
double-bed at Rs 60 in Guru Amar Dass Serai attached with
this gurdwara. As for the unauthorised guest houses in
Sectors 21 and 22, the tourists, both domestic and
foreign, are directed to these guest houses by the
Chandigarh Administrations Tourist Information
Centre at the bus terminus in Sector 17. There have been
several complaints against the functioning of this
centre, especially by foreign tourists. Several letters
to this effect have been appearing in various newspapers
from time to time. Lieutenant-General Jacob has paid
several surprise visits to the bus terminus in Sector 17
during the past three or four months, but he has not
visited the Tourist Information Centre at the terminus. A
visit to this centre can be revealing.

Narinder Singh
Chandigarh

Heavy school
bagsThe report Groaning under the weight of
school bags (Chandigarh Tribune, Aug 13) has
highlighted the problem which has been assailing the
parents as well as the children for a long time. I fail
to understand why such a huge syllabus is prescribed for
children of such tender age so that they have to carry a
heavy load of books and notebooks. Are we so running
against time that we must teach the children everything
at the primary stage?

My children are studying
in a public school in Sector 7. They do not know how to
form a correct sentence, but they are supposed to cram
essays or letters running into three or four pages. My
son in Class III has to study 10 subjects involving 20
books and has to carry as many notebooks. Parents go mad
finding material for project work which, by no stretch of
imagination, can be handled by the child himself.

The CBSE does not
prescribe any fixed syllabus up to Class V. It is
difficult to understand why children are forced to cram
things which are beyond their comprehension. Little
attention is paid to nurturing the childs
creativity and imagination. The new concepts in education
and environment can be put into practice without
subjecting the child to such ordeal.

Computer education
should be practical at the primary level, but children in
Class II are asked to write long answers consisting of
words like electrical,
electronics and mechanical. More
stress is laid on cramming rather than understanding the
subject.

The media should build
an opinion against this system of education and help in
bringing radical changes according to the changing times.

Ashutosh Vermani
Chandigarh

Defence Colony
woesWe, the residents of the Defence Colony, in
Sector 35-D, seek to air our grievances through the
columns of your esteemed paper. Soon after the concept of
southern sectors originated, the Administration approved
a separate lay-out plan for each of these sectors. In
1967, in the plan for the Defence Colony in Sector 35, an
area of about six kanals was reserved for service shops
near Government Model Secondary School. Space for garbage
dumps was also earmarked in the plan.

Whereas the residential
plots allotted in 1967 with a direction to build the
houses within three years are already occupied, the area
for the shops is still lying vacant and has been turned
into a dumping ground for waste building material, filth
and garbage. Rag pickers and stray cattle roam the area
freely. The site is also being used for parking trucks
and cars. Congress grass and other wild shrubs grow in
abundance. The place stinks and breeds mosquitoes and
flies. A garbage bin has been placed in the centre.
Several requests to the Health Officer to shift the bin
to a more suitable place have gone unheeded. Encroachers
have also moved in.

We urge the authorities
either to construct the shops or raise a boundary wall to
keep the place clean and prevent encroachments. The site
can also be used as a playground for children and a park
for old citizens.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 The police has arrested a resident of Darua
village on the charges of outraging the modesty of a
woman.

According to police
sources, Raju was arrested for outraging the modesty of a
woman of the same village in the jungle adjacent to the
railway station. He, thereafter, threatened her not to
disclose the incident to anyone.

The accused was arrested
and booked under Sections 354 and 506 of the IPC.

One injuredRickshaw-puller Binda was hit and injured by a
car, DL 03C 3730, near the Sector 38\40 dividing road.
The driver fled from the spot. A case under Sections 279
and 337 of the IPC has been registered.

Two theftsSector 28 resident Jaswant Singh reported that
his scooter CH 23 T 1657 has been stolen from Sector 9.

Similarly, Sector 16
resident Rohit Bansal reported that his motor cycle,
choim 0664, was stolen from Panjab University. Cases
under Section 379 of the ipc has been registered.

One arrestedThe police arrested a thief from Sector 29 here
this morning.

According to police
sources, Nur Mohammad, a resident of New Delhi, was
arrested by the Industrial Area police. His modus
operandi was to steal the streetlight bulbs during the
night time and sell them in New Delhi. As many as 10
mercury bulbs had been recovered from his possession.

He has been remanded to
police custody till September 9, the sources added.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 India is emerging as an industrial power. Ours is
not a weak economy, though a high cost economy. Stating
this at a discussion on Small Industry in North India, Mr
D.P. Bagchi, Secretary, SSI, Government of India, said
there was urgent need to control the cases of defaults in
banks.

For this mutual
guarantee scheme, which is a popular concept in western
countries, needs to be encouraged in India also. Default
rate under this scheme, where part of the finance share
is of the bank and part is contributed by the members, is
very low. In Italy, for instance, the default rate has
reduced to 1 per cent, said he. He urged Punjab and
Haryana governments to take the lead.

Mr Ramesh Inder Singh,
Secretary, Industries, Punjab, highlighting the problems
being faced by the small industrial units in the state,
said there was lack of any mechanism to settle industrial
sickness in the state. There is urgent need to
identify sickness and also to provide for an effective
statutory base for settlement, said he. Emphasising
on the need to provide some package to the State
Financial Institutions, Mr Singh said the NPAs of SFIs
had accumulated over time and these institutions were
uncompetitive due to high rate of interest of
refinancing.

He also said the small
industrialists in the state needed to have access to
information on the latest technology. A dedicated
venture-based fund for the same is required, said
he. He, however, expressed satisfaction that industrial
sickness in the state was only 1 per cent (much lower
than the national average) and the growth rate of
industry was 10 per cent, which is higher than the
national average of 7 per cent.

Mr M. Saleem Beg,
Director, Industries and Commerce, Jammu and Kashmir,
said small industry in the state was suffering not only
due to the problem of power, but problems with banking
were also existing. According to the figures by the
banks itself, in more than 75 per cent of the cases, the
delay between the application and the sanction of loan is
more than one year, said he. He urged the Central
Government to create a special task force for the
north-eastern states which could specifically look in to
the problems of this region.

CHANDIGARH, Sept 6
 For 22-year-old Ankush Aggarwal, Director,
Northern Soft Net Ltd, dreams have come true, rather
fast. It was only eight months back that he had
conceptualised a website of his own. Since then, Ankush
has worked hard. He put in more than five hours a day, or
rather the night, at times more, to single-handedly
design and programme the website, www. chandigarhx.com,
which was officially launched today by the Union Minister
of Food and Consumer Affairs, Mr Shanta Kumar, here
today.Ankush graduates next year as a metallurgic
engineer from Punjab Engineering College. He is also one
of the 11 youngsters in the world to be selected for the
Integrated Login Programme list of www.everyone.com. He
was attracted to the world of computers when he was in
Class VI. At that time, only MS DOS was available.
I made a quiz using the basic language. Later, like any
other child, I was also fascinated by computer
games, he says It was in 1996 that his parents
gifted him his own very own PC. My father had
promised me that if I manage to clear my entrance exam to
an engineering college, he would buy me a computer.
Thus started his adventure with the futuristic world of
computers which has now become his destiny. Even
though my family business is related to chemicals, I hope
that the facilities that I am offering at my website will
succeed in the next two years. If I get enough visitors,
I hope to achieve an advertisement value, he
adds.Ankush is aware of the tough competition he will
have to face with a website being launched everyday.
However, he hopes that he will be able to find a niche
for himself. He explains, Other sites are using
pure H.T.M.L., whereas I would be using ASP on N.T.
servers. ASP makes integration with the data pages more
dynamic. In any case, all major sites use ASP, he
adds.This young metallurgic engineer has not had any
formal training, as far as computers is concerned.
In this area, I have had learnt with inputs from
the internet and a few books, he adds. He is sure
that his site will offer more information than others
available in the city. It contains all features
which other sites are offering. I have more facilities
like tourist information, city guide, e-Mail, meta search
engines to give better results, dating, college board,
matrimonial; you name it and the information is there at
the click of a button. My portal will serve for the local
needs, which is the need of the hour.His future
plans includes selling templates and readymade websites
besides designing sites for different cities I plan
to feature online shopping For this project, I had
invested Rs 40,000. Since I have the code ready, I think
I can sell it to anyone wanting to design a similar
website, he says. Congratulating Ankush, the
minister said Democracy also meant providing correct
information at the right time at the right place.
The world is changing rapidly and so is the concept
of information technology. We need to integrate it in our
day-to-day work to ensure that the country progresses and
does not lag behind, he said.Elaborating on the
need to incorporate the concept of information
technology, he said his department distributes free
rations worth Rs 33 crore to poor people. However,
50 per cent of this rations does not reach the desired
place because of various reasons. The major reason is
that the poor people do not come to know of the benefits
that the government is offering due to lack of
information.We plan is to link all the 2,60,000 fair
price shops in the 543 districts of the country by using
modern information technology, he added.

DERA BASSI, Sept 6
 Members of the Dera Bassi Industrial Focal Point
Association have criticised the decision of the Punjab
State Electricity Board to hike power tariff, increase
minimum charges and meter charges.

In a press statement, Mr
R.C. Kalia, general secretary of the association, said an
unprecedent hike from Rs 96 to Rs 200 per kw up to the
load of 60 kw and also Rs 200 from 60 kw to 100 kw was
not justified.

Mr Kalia, said
small-scale industries and small units in focal point had
already been facing recession. Due to heavy crunch of
loan and interests and the non-payments of subsidy, some
units in the focal points had been closed down and some
are on the verge of closure.